In Focus

Doing Right by Victims in Cote d’Ivoire: Ouattara’s Second TermIn this op-ed, ICTJ President David Tolbert argues that President Alassane Ouattara should use his second term as president to address widespread atrocities committed in Cote d’Ivoire’s recent past.

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AFRICAThe Government of Kenya asked the United Nations Security Council to defer the International Criminal Court (ICC) cases against Deputy President William Ruto and radio broadcaster Joshua Sang, who are charged with crimes against humanity allegedly committed during post-election violence in 2007 and 2008. The ICC decided not to hold the trial of former Lord’s Resistance Army commander Dominic Ongwen in Uganda. The ICC called on India to arrest Sudan President Omar Al-Bashir – who is wanted for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide in Darfur – while he visited the country. In Cote d’Ivoire, President Alassane Ouattara was reelected to a second term. The ICC prosecutor warned against war crimes in Burundi, where political divisions and violence have raised concerns about a potential genocide.

AMERICASAs part of the Colombia peace talks, the government and the FARC reached an agreement to work together to locate thousands of people who disappeared during the country’s 50-year conflict. President Juan Manuel Santos apologized for the 1985 raid on Colombia’s Palace of Justice, during which nearly 100 people were killed, and prosecutors identified the remains of three people who were disappeared the siege. Guatemala opened a new court to hear war crimes cases stemming from the country’s civil war. The National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation – an archive of materials related to abuses committed in Canada’s Indian Residential Schools – opened in Winnipeg. Mexico will reopen its investigation into the disappearance of 43 college students from Ayotzinapa.

ASIANepal’s government limited the number of staff postings at its Truth and Reconciliation Committee to 100 people, 44 fewer than what was originally requested. In Myanmar Aung San Suu Kyi’s opposition party won a majority of seats in parliament in the country’s first free nationwide elections in over 25 years. Ahead of the elections, Myanmar signed a ceasefire with eight armed rebel groups, but the most active militant groups declined to join the agreement. In Sri Lanka, a judge appointed by former President Mahinda Rajapaksa found that allegations that government forces committed war crimes during the civil war – fiercely denied by the Rajapaksa government – are in fact credible.

EUROPEIn Bosnia and Herzegovina, the families of three people killed by Bosnian Serb forces in the 1995 Srebrenica genocide petitioned the European Court of Human Rights to prosecute three former Dutch UN commanders for their role in the three men’s deaths. Meanwhile, Serbia said that it will donate $5.4 million to Srebrenica for economic development. Kosovo and Montenegro signed an agreement of cooperation to find out what happened to over 1,000 people who disappeared during the Kosovo war in the late 1990s. The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe said that Serbia is laggingbehind on war crimes prosecutions, and the European Union said that Montenegro needs to do more to fight impunity for war crimes. Turkey granted Cyprus access to military-controlled areas of Northern Cyprus in order to speed the search for missing persons from the conflict that divided the island in the 1960s and 70s.

MENAVictims in Tunisia say that they want a more direct voice in the country’s transitional justice process.Palestine gave ICC prosecutors a file of evidence of war crimes committed during a recent spate of violence between Palestinians and Israelis. Journalist and activist Hassam Bahgat was arrested andreleased by Egypt’s military. Lebanon’s human rights record was reviewed by states during the latest session of the UN Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review, and received recommendations on women’s rights, torture, migrant workers, establishment of a moratorium on the death penalty.Kuwait agreed to postpone reparations payments from Iraq stemming from Saddam Hussein’s occupation of Kuwait in the 1990s.

Publications

From Rejection to Redress: Overcoming Legacies of Conflict-Related Sexual Violence in Northern UgandaThis report examines the unique, enduring consequences of conflict-related sexual violence in northern Uganda, focusing specifically on the impact of the lack of accountability for sexual crimes leading to motherhood on girls and women, and on the children they bore as a result of violations.

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Tunisia in Transition: One Year After the Creation of the Truth and Dignity CommissionThis briefing paper details and analyzes the progress made so far in Tunisia to implement its historic Transitional Justice Law, with a particular focus on the Truth and Dignity Commission, created one year ago.

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Upcoming Events

December 03 – 05, 2015

The Politics of Memory: Victimization, Violence and Contested Narratives of the PastLocation: Columbia University, New YorkView Details

December 08, 2015

Annual Emilio Mignone Lecture on Transitional JusticeLocation: New York, USAView Details

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Author: Impunity Watch Archive